Many associates live in a daily state of anxiety. They want to know how they're doing, how they're comparing to their peers in the firm and how they're
comparing to their peers across the profession. And it doesn't go away as they approach partnership; in fact, it often increases, as they wonder if they're
doing everything they can  including marketing themselves and developing clients  to improve their chance of partnership.

I vividly remember my early years as a litigation associate, receiving only a handful of hours in marketing and client development training on an annual
basis, but more commonly, no annual training at all. Then, as a marketing director and marketing partner, associates would visit my office, seeking help
and advice. Their activities tended toward accidental, occasional, and opportunistic, rather than planned, proactive, and strategic.

An associate's goal should not be to bring in work, but to position himself/herself to get high-quality legal work when they need it later. But how
should they approach this long-term goal? Below is a step-by-step, year-by-year list of marketing activities that can turn any associate into a business
generator for their firm:

FIRST-YEARASSOCIATES

An associate's first priority is to learn to be a great lawyer; marketing should be a distant second. Their primary marketing activity is simple:
to make sure they don't lose touch with the people they already know. Here are some tips for how first-year associates can establish and maintain
relationships with the people who are already accessible to them. They should:

Join one local, state or national bar association and become actively involved on one targeted committee within their practice area
(This should continue through partnership.)

Read their firm's website, newsletters, brochures and other materials to learn about its range of services and clients

Develop relationships with the firm's lawyers, both inside and outside of their practice area. Associates should avoid eating lunch at a desk and go
out at least:

Once each week with a lawyer inside their practice area

Twice each month with a lawyer outside of their practice area

Regularly with friends and contacts

Draft a detailed website biography, following the firm's format. Update it regularly.

Build a network, and create a mailing list of friends and contacts, including:

Law school classmates

Childhood, high school and college friends

Community-association and professional-club contacts

Keep in touch with existing networks through traditional tools and technology:

Use selective information as a reason to call, congratulate or reconnect

FOURTH- AND FIFTH-YEAR ASSOCIATES

It is now time for associates to start expanding their network and building an external reputation and resume. They should remember that providing the
highest-quality technical skills and extremely responsive client service are essential elements of the firm's marketing to its existing clients.

Unless an associate's practice area is driven primarily through lawyer referrals (e.g. personal injury, divorce, patent, admiralty), he/she should begin to
slowly reduce bar association activities and surround himself/herself with prospects, not competitors. It is time to focus efforts more narrowly, particularly
in some industry group or sub-specialty practice niche. The associate should consider the following to identify the niche or industry to target:

Did the associate grow up in a family business?

What hobby, passion, or special skill or interest of the associate would clients value?

What job did the associate have before law school?

What's hanging on the associate's walls or sitting on his/her credenza?

Where does the associate or the associate's spouse have an established network?

What does the associate know that other lawyers don't that would benefit some category of clients?

To help identify a narrow niche, an associate should identify the best groups or trade associations serving his/her target
industry, and then seek a national association with an active local chapter. Once the associate has selected the group or trade
association, the ultimate goal is to become one of the usual suspects in that group  a highly visible, friendly, helpful
and active contributor. The associate should:

Attend the monthly meetings

Network regularly; get to know everyone

Be helpful, offer advice and assistance

Spend a couple years learning more about the industry and the association members

Keep the conversations focused on them:

Remember The 80/20 Rule: Take part in 20 percent of the talking, mostly asking interested, insightful questions about others and their businesses

Be actively interested in others

Refrain from seeking work or selling the firm to prevent from being shunned as a "vendor"

In addition, the associate should:

Identify a client-development mentor, ideally a rainmaker at the associate's firm who's invested in his/her future and can help answer questions,
and provide guidance and support

Learn about clients' and prospects' companies and industries

Regularly read industry websites, publications and blogs

Conduct online research periodically to stay current on their issues and needs

Browse company websites regularly, especially company news and press releases

Follow them on social media

Create a Google Alert for each company and important decision maker

Create and maintain an ongoing list of the associate's cases and deals, with one-paragraph summaries (including who was represented, what issues and
dollars were involved, how it was resolved, how the client benefited and what was significant about it)

Notify his/hers firm's marketers of significant cases/transactions that he/she was involved in, or aware of, for media and public relations purposes

Write an article for a legal or industry publication on new issues, trends or precedents

Tweet weekly on these issues

Post on blogs relevant to area(s) of interest

Continue annually through partnership

Present a speech to a legal, industry or community association (continue annually through partnership)

Work toward a leadership position in his/her selected industry association

Use technology to help grow and stay in touch with his/her network, such as blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

Consider running half-page ads in the industry publication if:

The associate's firm would be the only law firm advertising there, and

The associate can make them visually interesting enough to truly stand out

Engage in at least two face-to-face marketing efforts per week

Visit clients' facility, offices, factory or stores, at no charge

Dress appropriately for the location

Tour the plant, meet employees and ask questions

Become more familiar with their industry's legal and business issues

This is critical: The associate is there to enhance a relationship and learn how to represent the client better. Therefore, the associate should
not sell.

If associates follow this simple checklist, over time they should find that they have developed a significant network of the right contacts that can be
turned into clients. Moreover, they will have laid the foundation for a successful career, one that is fulfilling personally, professionally and financially.

About the author

Ross Fishman is the Chief Executive Officer of Fishman Marketing. He has been called "one of the country's leading experts on law firm marketing"
by Lawyers Weekly USA. He has created nearly 200 law firm marketing campaigns worldwide, and taught more than 10,000 lawyers how to generate new business.
A Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, Fishman was the first marketer inducted into the Legal Marketing Association's Hall of Fame.